30 August 2006
JOURNALIST MURDERED
Venezuelan authorities have been urged to conduct a thorough investigation into the murder of journalist Jesús Flores Rojas, who was gunned down by an unidentified man on 23 August 2006 in the eastern town of El Tigre.
The motives for the murder are unknown. Flores, 66, was editorial coordinator of the Anzoátegui edition of the daily "La Región", and was a columnist for other media publications in the area, according to the Institute for Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
In his articles, Flores accused local officials of corruption. Flores's daughters said their father did not have any enemies, although it was known that his articles were not well received by the government officials whom he accused.
The editor of "La Región", Luis Marcano Barrios, said Flores had told him that he had received several death threats, including last month when an unidentified caller told Flores to stop criticizing the municipal government. Local police said they would be examining Flores's articles in their search for more leads in the investigation.
Flores is the second journalist killed in Venezuela this year, according to RSF. Jorge Aguirre, a photographer for the newspaper "El Mundo", was shot dead in Caracas by a man posing as a police officer on 5 April. Two men have been charged in connection with the murder.
Visit these links:
- IPYS: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/76604/
- IPYS Venezuela: http://www.ipys.org.ve/index.html
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18708
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/americas/ven29aug06na.html
- IPI Report on Venezuela: http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/freedom_detail.html?country=/KW0001/KW0002/KW0032/
- Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/venezu12258.htm
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